An OPP officer reported a tornado picked up and threw his cruiser off the road near Fergus, and another tornado was reported to have touched down in Elmvale (near Midland). Funnel clouds were also reported in Bracebridge. Click either of the vidcaps below to watch a short video clip.

Tornadoes touch down in Ontario

By Paul Choi and Jen Horsey

Canadian Press

Wednesday, June 15, 2005TORONTO -- At least two reported tornadoes and a flurry of tornado warnings in southwestern Ontario sent residents diving for their basements Tuesday evening. Hazy, humid weather gave way to several cells of intense weather that spawned heavy winds, hail, driving rain and at least two tornadoes. Environment Canada first issued warnings after an Ontario Provincial Police officer reported a tornado that had touched down northeast of Fergus at around 5 p.m. "There was torrential rain,'' said Dave Patrick, an amateur weather enthusiast who travelled into the heart of a storm in the Listowel area Tuesday afternoon in search of a tornado. "The roads were all flooded. There was intense lightning.'' Around 9 p.m., Environment Canada reported another tornado had touched down in Elmvale, a town just south of Midland. "There's a spotter that saw a tornado in Elmvale," said Environment Canada meteorologist Isabel Ruddick. "We don't know of any damage with them." A funnel cloud was reported over Bracebridge around the same time, but it hadn't touched down, Ruddick said. Elmvale residents said they experienced heavy rains and strong winds Tuesday evening, but did not report seeing any tornadoes. "A friend just called me to ask about tornado reports, but that's all I know of it," said Jim Bark, owner of Watson's Inn. "We're at a loss here." Bracebridge resident Deanne Terry said the weather in the area was fierce. "Oh, it's bad," she said. "It's been thundering and lightning pretty heavy, and the rain has been pretty bad."But she added she only considered it a "bad, bad storm." Early in the evening, Environment Canada reported some damage in the town of Lucan, north of London. But Ruddick said that might have been the result of strong winds since there was no confirmed tornado in the area. Thunderstorm and tornado warnings were updated throughout the evening across the region north of the Toronto area known as Tornado Alley that was devastated 20 years ago when storms spawned deadly tornadoes in and around Barrie. "That whole zone is really hot right now for tornadoes," said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Cam Woolley. By late Tuesday evening, many of the tornado warnings were downgraded to severe thunderstorm warnings as the initial storms moved east. Jane Lyndon, a resident of Palgrave, near Orangeville, said she cancelled her plans when she heard the tornado warnings. Lyndon said she rushed outside and cleared off her patio so her furniture wouldn't blow away. But as of early Tuesday evening, there was only a soft breeze in the air. "I guess they have to do this,'' Lyndon said. "`But so often they exaggerate to the point where no one pays attention anymore." Lyndon lived through the 1985 tornado in the Barrie area and said she remembers how the fierce weather rattled her windows and uprooted a maple tree in the front yard. "It was traumatic as heck,'' she said.